September 05, 2005

The Literary High Plains

I’ll be heading out east from Denver on I-80 tomorrow, going to a family wedding in Omaha, making the same eight-hour drive I’ve been doing all my life between the city where I grew up and eastern Nebraska, where my extended family lives. I’ve never found the prairie and cornfield-lined stretches of I-80 to be boring, as a lot of people seem to—instead I see the landscape as the perfect canvas for day dreaming, and, if I’m not driving the car, a great opportunity to read. The New York Times Book Review recently constructed a Literary Map of Manhattan, plotting places in the city where fictional characters lived. I don’t see why we can’t do the same with the West—sure, our map will be a bit more sparsely populated, but that just gives the characters more room to loom larger-than-life.

3 comments:

I think the "Literary Map of the West" idea is interesting. You could even incorporate folklore/legendary characters. they were substantially fictionalized too.

I'm born and raised in the West and consider myself a westerner exclusively and with some arrogance. Much like easterners!

Our charcters would be as interesting as anyone in the East and perhaps the settings are more colorful than those set in the concrete, steel and asphalt of the East.

I realize there is a rural side to the East that has it's own charm, but I immediately think of the city when I think of the East.And of a human dominated eco system. We've pushed out all other forms of life in the city--excepts pests. But that supports the pest control industry! Our growth and dominance of the the world can be supported by economic advantages!!

Whoever reads my stuff should not take this altogetehr seriously. I don't think you should take any journalists work seriously. There is too much of themselves in any of this writing to take it verbatim. I also raley read opinion columns-(unless I shopping for a movie to see). Another opinion conjered up by a journalist for the sake of making an arguement, a deadline, and a word count isn't worth much to me. Journalists--I am one--self appointed know it alls. Journalist are much too cynical and I'm no better than any other.